


The Best Birthday Ever

by Rachel_Lu



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Birthday, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Fluff, Sickfic, Sleepy Cuddles, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, the Doctor is an insecure bean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-13 03:40:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13562013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rachel_Lu/pseuds/Rachel_Lu
Summary: Rose catches a cold just before her birthday and doesn't think to tell the Doctor, just so he won't worry about her.He worries anyway.





	The Best Birthday Ever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Skyler10](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyler10/gifts).



> Just some fluff written for Skyler10's birthday!!! I hope you enjoy it, friend, and I hope you have the best day! (With no colds)

Rose wasn’t necessarily prone to colds, but this one had hit her particularly hard after a Torchwood expedition into the tundra. She’d called off work a day in advance, knowing it was coming, and knowing the Doctor would be up and gone before she even woke up.  That had always been the way of things, after all, even in his new half-human body.  He had just enough Time Lord left in him to get him up and bouncing at five in the morning.

It didn’t upset her that she was sick on her birthday.  She hadn’t really celebrated it since Canary Warf, anyway.  So, of course, she didn’t think to bring it up to the Doctor.  That, and she knew he’d worry incessantly the whole day, or he’d insist to stay home and take care of her, and while that was lovely, she didn’t want him to get sick if she could help it.

She felt him kiss her cheek as he got out of bed, but her cold weighed her down and she hummed softly before burrowing into her covers again.

“Love you,” he whispered.  “Happy birthday.”

“Love you,” she mumbled back, smiling, and she could practically feel him grinning to himself as he shuffled quietly out of the room. Rose pushed her nose into the pillow, and fell back into a slightly fitful sleep.

She was ‘well enough’ to get up at noon and prepare herself some chicken soup from a can.  The Doctor rang her about two o’ clock, a worried note in his voice. 

“Rose, at first I thought she were just taking a half day, but you’re not here yet, and I don’t know- are you alright?”

She smiled a little, snuggling down in front of the telly with a tv tray with her fourth bowl of soup on it. “Doctor, I’m completely fine.  I just have a cold.”

“I’m on my way home.”

“No!” She coughed. “No, Doctor, don’t come home. It’s alright, really.  I’ve had plenty of colds.”

He was quiet for a moment, and then said softly, “But you’re sick on your birthday.”

She giggled. “I know, Doctor, and I promise it’s not that bad. I just got sick from being out in the cold the other day, that’s all.”

“I can come home and give you my presents for you, what do you think?” the Doctor sounded earnest.

Rose felt herself roll her eyes as she leaned back into the couch.  “Doctor, please.  I’ve been sick before.  You can come home when you’re done at work, love, okay?”

She heard a gentle sigh on the other end of the telephone. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I knew you’d want to stay home with me and I might get you sick,” Rose said, “Remember you can catch my germs now.”

“I don’t mind!”

“You are a very dramatic man, Doctor.”

“I want to come home and take care of you, is that so wrong?”

“Of course not. Come home  _ tonight,  _ when you’re supposed to, and you can catch my germs all you want if that’s what you want.”

She could practically hear the Doctor nodding.  “Alright. Fine.  I’ll see you tonight.”

“Okay, then.”

“I love you.”

She smiled. “I love you too.”

He came home at exactly five, prompting her to think that he left early and drove at the speed of light all the way to their flat.  He opened the door and had a bouquet of flowers and pink balloons in his arms, and Rose couldn’t help but smile at the look of him.

“Hello,” she said from her spot on the couch.  “How was work?”

He hurried over to her, handing her the flowers and letting the balloons float up to the ceiling before kneeling down in front of her knees.

“Happy birthday, my love.”

She ran her hand through his hair, pushing the strands out of his eyes.  “Thank you.  These are lovely.”

“That’s not all!” he pointed at her.  “I had a surprise dinner reservation, but I rescheduled for next week so that you could enjoy it. Let me go fetch your present!”

Rose giggled as he shot up to his feet, taking off towards the bedroom.  She smelled the flowers and appreciated them for a moment before getting up to put them in a vase.  She was just arranging them on the dining room table when he came back with a small pile of poorly wrapped presents.  

“What are you doing off the couch?”

“Making sure my flowers don’t die.”

He tutted and pulled her to the couch.  He sat next to her, handing her the presents. 

“Oh, Doctor, you didn’t have to get me so many presents,” she said, picking up the one on top.

He shrugged. “I wanted to.  It’s the first time I’ve been with you for your birthday without the TARDIS, I wanted to make it special.”

She looked at him and saw the insecurity in his eyes.  She reached out and cupped his cheek with one hand. “It’s special because you’re here,” she told him.  “Not because of where you can or can’t take me.”

He smiled and pushed into her touch a little.  “Open them.”

On top was a lovely pair of earrings, studs she could wear to work, he explained, but still pretty.  Underneath was a lovely pink sweater, and underneath that was a new blue leather jacket with silk lining.

“Oh, Doctor, these are so lovely,” She said, holding the sweater to her chest.  “You really are too good to me.”

“I noticed your old favorite jumper was getting holes in it, and you seemed so sad to be rid of it… And your jacket got destroyed last week in that bombing-”

“It means so much to me,” She said sleepily, cutting him off. “That you notice things like that.”

He noticed her fatigue and helped her pack them up and set them aside.  “I could make you something for dinner?”

She shook her head. “M’not hungry. Really tired, though.  Can we have a cuddle on the couch?  You said you didn’t mind my germs.”

He fetched her a new box of tissues and arranged them on the couch so she was laying on him, her head on his chest, facing the telly.   He was much more comfortable than the couch, she decided, and he fit against her just right

“Doctor?”

He tugged the blankets up to her shoulders, smoothing a hand over her upper back.  “Hm?”

She pressed a tissue to her nose and said around it, “This was the best birthday ever.”

“Really?” He said, disbelieving.

“Mm,” She closed her eyes, the drone of the telly lulling her to sleep.  He pressed a kiss to her hair once he knew she was asleep and whispered softly, “You’ll get your last present when I take you to dinner.”

The diamond ring was burning a hole in his pocket anyway.


End file.
